Keldin slammed the door to Aiden's office with such force the wooden slab groaned. It had taken him two days to fully recover from the bond-breaking with Max. Skander had been at his side quietly the entire time. He knew the young man wasn't saying what he wanted to because Keldin was ill but he would once he was certain he could handle it.
Aiden looked up at him with tired eyes and it made his anger settle. He was the one who had gone through a bond-breaking but she was the one who had made sure he was fully healed by enhancing Deuce's and his own powers. That cost her more than she ever let on, but he knew the toll it had taken. Now she was the one that was sick.
He slumped into the chair before her desk and rested his chin in his palm as he looked at his friend. She wasn't sorry. She did what she thought was best for their people and for that there was no apologizing.
"What am I going to do with you?" he asked breathlessly.
She smiled tiredly and sat back. "That depends. Are you going to chastise me as Clint did or are you going to lose your temper as Cole?"
"Actually, I'm going to do neither. You've had enough on your plate to deal with." He paused to look at her closely. This wasn't the lowest he had seen her but it also wasn't her best. "Why didn't you tell me what you were doing?"
"I knew you were going to object because the bond was deep but I had Skander on the brain. I did it for him."
That took him by surprise. Aiden usually did things for the benefit of their people, the people of the Silver Court, but this time she had done it for one person. Skander. She had put herself and him in jeopardy to save one mere normal human.
"You didn't do this to help our people?" He couldn't keep the incredulity from his voice.
Aiden smiled then stood and stretched. "Don't get me wrong. I did it for our people but they weren't what were going through my mind when I sat on that balcony and watched my children, nieces, and nephews play with that boy. My sons' fascination with him never ceases and then there's you."
She stared up at him with knowing in her eyes it made him turn a shade of pink. "He makes you buzz with happiness, so much so I can't keep Spirit Sight tame around you. Then there's the fact that you would cease to exist if something happened to him."
"You did this to help me." It wasn't a question. More like a realization that was too late to hit. She nodded and he stood. He rounded the desk and rubbed her shoulders gently. "Tell me what to do."
She dropped her head back to his chest and looked up at him. "You know what to do, Keldin, but he's still in danger. There's no way you can let him around town by himself until we can stop all the hit men."
He nodded. He figured as much when he woke up that morning to Skander nestled into his side with a protective hand on his arm. He was only at ease when he slept. Keldin wanted him to be at ease all the time, and the only way that was going to happen was if he stopped all of this.
With a tight hug to his Queen and friend, he bustled out of the room quickly only to be replaced by Abby. The other woman was breathless and tired but she was frantic.
"I hate to interrupt, Your Majesty, but Skander's gone. He's not in the house and not with the children in the courtyard. When I scanned for him, his presence wasn't on the grounds at all. I think he may have gone to town," she said hurriedly.
Aiden closed her eyes and willed her body to calm down. After a few moments she found him. "He's in the French Quarter."
"I'll muster the teams."
The Queen ran from the office, catching up to her friend seconds later. He looked at her speculatively. When she didn't smile, he became nervous. "Skander's gone to the French Quarter. Abby's gone to collect the teams we have available."
"I'm going with them," he replied.
She shook her head. "No, no. You need to stay here. Your emotions would get in the way.'
"What if it were Clint? What would you do?"
"It was Clint, remember? And you brought him back safe and sound to me and my son. Trust me to bring him back for you."
Realization struck hard. "You're going?"
She nodded. "Yes, because I have to make sure these people don't get the wrong idea about their Queen. I'll allow Austin to take the lead but I will make sure Skander gets home safely."
Keldin, torn by immense emotion, nodded. "I trust you. Bring him back to me."
Aiden leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed her friend's forehead before turning back to her private quarters.
***
Skander smiled as he inhaled the chicory coffee Café du Monde was famous for. He had been to New Orleans once before with his dad when he had decided to take the family on vacation. Skander had had fun but that was before Andrew had stolen the spotlight. That was before Skander had gone to school for design and all this had happened.
As he looked around he could tell he was so not in his element. People were loud, the city was loud and bustling, and it showed he was too far from home to be comfortable. The Southern accent, ranging simply from Southern to Cajun, eventually they all melded together and Skander couldn't discern one from the other.
The waitress dropped his beignets off at his table, smiled pleasantly at him, then turned on her heel and walked back inside the café. Too bad he was gay. She was a pretty woman. As he sat there and ate in silence, he was happy he was gay. He had a good guy at his side. He was a little eccentric but that was okay.
Something changed in the air around him and sent a shiver down his spine. All his training with the older Lowens had taught him to sense everything around him, scope it out in case of emergency. He was supposed to find the nearest exit and stick close to it. He was outside so escape would be easier but he didn't have the sixth sense the others did to sense from which direction his opposition came.
Opening the senses he did have, he allowed the shiver to flow through him. A chair scratched the concrete to his left. That's where the person was coming from and also where his direct escape route was.
He sat very still and waited until the person was breathing down his neck before he stood and lashed out with his left foot. He heard the oof that told him his foot had connected with the soft flesh of the man's belly.
Not taking any chances, he picked up the chair and swung it, reveling in the fact that it shattered once it hit the man's back. His attacker was sent face first into the table and hot coffee blasted him in the face as he went. As the man screamed, Skander ran.
He knew his way back to the house. If only he could reach it, he would have all the help he needed. More than one set of pounding feet filled his ears as well as his labored breathing. He suspected there were three more following him.
Suddenly a voice filled his head. 'Skander, this is Austin. Where are you?'
'I just left Café du Monde and I'm heading back to the house. There are three people after me and I left one lying on the ground at the café,' he replied. 'Please help me.'
'I've got a team with me. Can you tell me the powers of the ones after you?"
'I don't know! They haven't used them yet!' He was beginning to panic. If he couldn't get them to use their powers, he was really in trouble.
Finally, a bolt of lightning landed beside him as he was running. He veered to the left to keep getting hit. Then a gust of wind nearly lifted him from the ground but luckily he swung around a building as soon as it started. The last one shot fire at him. He ducked with a yelp but kept running. All the while, he was relaying everything to Austin.
He could hear the river as he took the final left back to the palace on the eastern bank of New Orleans. He was close to home. Then he tripped and his pursuers fell on him like flies do rotting fruit. He was hit once and blackness took over.